I have Winstep Xtreme and I'm trying to get some WorkShelf items into the taskbar (Preferences->Taskbar Settings->Taskbar Sections). I have WorkShelf Weather and Workshelf CPU Meter checked but they don't appear in the taskbar. I saw them once a while ago but they disappeared and haven't shown up since then. How can I get them to show up again?

I've also noticed that the WorkShelf says that the weather item is being displayed on the desktop but I don't see it anywhere. Is there a way to get it to show?

This is a very minor issue to me since I can easily get the info from the WorkShelf, but if this is a bug, I figured you would want to know.

Since the 'captured' modules are the real thing, you actually need to tell WorkShelf to display those on the desktop (i.e.; open the modules). If the desktop modules are not open in WorkShelf, they cannot be captured into the NextSTART taskbar.

I think this might be the problem... a misunderstanding on how this works.



Close and re-open the module - WorkShelf makes sure desktop modules are always within the screen. If you still can't see it, check it's settings in the Modules tab in Preferences - in particular the 'Transparency' slider, and also the 'Hide all desktop modules when starting up' option.

1. I can't find how to close or open the weather module. Clicking on it only brings up the weather.com page in my browser. Right clicking doesn't bring up anything that says open or close.

2. When I right-clicked on the weather module in the workshelf and selected "Hide Systray Icon", it showed up on the taskbar once, then went away after the taskbar autohid. It wasn't showing in the Systray.

3. I have no access to any help, or else I would have consulted it before posting this. When I click on any help button, Webroot SecureAnywhere throws up a message stating, "Warning www.winstep.net contains malicious content. This website contains a known threat and has been blocked." I find this rather strange because I was on the site yesterday to purchase Winstep Xtreme. Fortunately, forums.winstep.net is still open to me so that I can post here.

Earlier, the Workshelf stopped responding. Clicking did nothing. I got the busy arrow icon about once a second and the whole system slowed down until it was unusable. I had to reboot.

The start menu just crashed on me. I had to add a new icon to the Workshelf Quick Launch to display the Windows menu in order to restart it. Now that it's running again, the weather icon is showing in the Systray, and it appeared once in the taskbar before disappearing after an autohide. However, right clicking on the icon causes the context menu to appear for only 1/2 second before it and the start menu disappears (autohide). Clicking on the Workshelf icon does the same. Clicking on the NextSTART icon keeps both the menu and start menu shown. Clicking on any other taskbar icon keeps the context menu and hides the taskbar.

I run four displays in an 2x2 configuration with the taskbar on the left side of the upper right display. If I extend the taskbar to the lower right display so that it spans two monitors, right clicking on the weather or Workshelf icons in the lower left monitor will cause the context menu to appear at the bottom left of the upper left monitor, but the taskbar and context menu won't disappear after 1/2 second.

I noticed that occasionally the modules will display little specks on the screen (about 8x8 pixels?) where they should appear. This is rare and I can't control when they will appear. But now the clock (one of the checked items) has shown up on the desktop in its full glory, but nothing else that's checked is showing.

Modules in Winstep Xtreme exist under two versions: one as an icon inside docks and the Shelf, another as a free form widget on the desktop. The latter are called 'Desktop Modules'.

When you right click the Weather module in the dock, the context menu will have an entry on it that says 'Desktop Modules'. In that sub-menu you will find the entries you are looking for - you can control Desktop Modules from there or from the Modules tab in WorkShelf Preferences.



The systray (also known as the 'Windows notification area')is where you will find icons such as the Sound Mixer, Network, Battery, etc... The systray exists inside the taskbar (although Winstep Xtreme also allows system tray icons to be shown in docks, on the Shelf, in menus, etc...)

But the point is, since the Systray is inside the taskbar, when the taskbar hid, so did the systray icons. If you don't want this to happen turn off auto-hide for the taskbar.

Also, keep in mind Windows also 'hides' most of the systray icons by default, leaving only the most important System icons visible. You can access the others but clicking on the Systray expand button.



Really? I just went to their web site and asked it to rate www.winstep.net. Here is the result so you can see with your own eyes:



Security companies are a dime a dozen. Some are good, some not. Regardless, you will always have something called 'false positives'.

Anyway, send them an email regarding the Winstep web site, since you know there are no threats there - I can't because I am not getting the warning you are.



And what were you doing when this happened?



Not clear. Is that what caused it to crash? If so, exactly what did you do? I need a step-by-step description so I can try to reproduce it here. Also, is this problem reproducible 100% of the time?



I really don't understand your confusion about this, sorry. If the systray is inside the taskbar, it will disappear when the taskbar does.

Same thing happens with the Windows taskbar if you set it to auto-hide.



Ok, I'll look into this, it seems like a reproducible problem. In theory the taskbar should not auto-hide if the context menu of a tray (systray) icon is currently open.



I'll look into this as well, thanks.



Can you please post a screenshot of your whole desktop with WorkShelf Preferences open in the Modules tab and one of the problematic modules that are not showing up selected?

Found it. I closed and reopened it and got a microscopic 17x16 blip on the screen. I've attached it as WeatherModule.png. After selecting another window, the blip went away and hasn't returned. I even minimized all programs in that monitor but it doesn't show up on the desktop.



I probably didn't make it clear. My bad! The weather module icon is showing up all the time in the systray now. It wasn't before. A separate section in the taskbar occasionally shows the weather and CPU module icons but if the task bar autohides and then redisplays, the icons in the taskbar, not the systray, go away.

Here are some steps I performed:
1. Close and reopen weather monitor. A tiny blip sometimes appears where the window should be.
2. Run cursor to the left side of the screen to unhide the taskbar. The weather monitor shows an icon with line separators just above the systray.
3. Move cursor off the edge to hide the taskbar again.
4. Run cursor to the left side of the screen again to unhide the taskbar. The weather monitor icon has disappeared. The weather monitor icon in the systray is still there.
5. Click an application's window. The little weather monitor blip disappears.



I just tried the website again and it works. I agree, the security company is worth a dime a dozen... Sheesh!



Nothing. I had just unlocked my computer and wanted to bring up the browser. I use the Workshelf Tasks section since it's easier than the taskbar. But when I clicked I got no response. None of the other buttons showed any response. The taskbar took a long time to display (>5 seconds) and when it hid, it left a large white box for up to 10 seconds. The cursor was showing a busy pointer every second. I brought up Windows Task Manager to find who the CPU hog was but whatever it was kept Task Manager from updating. So I had to reboot since all other tasks were super slow.



After rebooting, I set some taskbar preferences to check what would happen if the taskbar spanned two monitors vs. one monitor. At some point after that I tried to bring up the taskbar but it turned gray and wouldn't respond (typical Windows response to a window that went on vacation). A box popped up giving me the option of closing the window so I did. The Windows menu was disabled so I looked around Quick Launch to see if there was a way to open it. I did find a shortcut to open the normal Windows menu so I installed it and used it to relaunch Xtreme. So far it hasn't crashed again.

A picture is truly worth a thousand words.

I think I know what might be going on here. Open *NextSTART* Preferences (or press CTRL+F12) and go to the Taskbar tab. Now click on the WorkShelf Section button. Are any of the modules in there ticked?

I bet they are. Untick them, press Ok all the way to exit Preferences then let me know.



Hmmm, so your computer had just returned from Sleep or Hibernation and WorkShelf was unresponsive and maxing out the CPU?

I've seen this before.

WorkShelf uses something called the Multi-Media Timers to control animation timings. These are special very high-resolution timers (they can fire at 10 millisecond intervals), and that is why they are used for WorkShelf effect animations, but they do have a serious undocumented issue that also bit Mozilla's Firefox in the rear for a long time: if your computer goes to Sleep or Hibernation, when it comes back to 'life' the multimedia timers, instead of resuming from where they were, start firing continuously to make up for the lost time.

With a 10ms trigger, imagine how many times they must fire continuously to make up for a computer that has been in Sleep for a few hours.

That continuous firing of the timers causes the application to stop responding to user input, using up all the available CPU, until the timers have fired the number of times they would have had the computer not been asleep.

The application is not dead, however. It will magically return to life once that happens (but, of course, nobody is going to sit there for 10 minutes or more staring at an unresponsive application).

Anyway, as you can see this is a well known issue. And one that has been fixed a very loooong time ago, so I don't understand why it's rearing its ugly head again - it certainly does not happen here in any of my computers that go to Sleep.

Which begs the question: what version of Winstep Xtreme are you using?

They were ticked. I unticked them and nothing happened. I then closed and reopened the weather module and now the tiny icon doesn't disappear when I click on a different program. Nothing else changed.



Workshelf.exe 15.09.1081
Nextcontrols.ocx 1.00.0151
Region.dll 1.00.0001
wsZip.dll 1.01.0000
wsUnzip.dll 1.01.0000
Skin Tiki
OS Windows 7 x64, Version 6.01.7601 Service Pack 1
Memory 16 GB Physical, 32 GB Page File, 8388 GB Virtual
Shell Information C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe /q
Screen Size 1680 x 1050, 1680 x 1050, 1680 x 1050, 1680 x 1050

I've been using Winstep Xtreme for a few days now, but purchased it yesterday so last night was the first time it slept after being registered.

Have you tried re-starting the application already?

You see, the fact that those were ticked but you never mentioned it means you have been playing around with the application but without really knowing what all those settings do.

I'm all for experimentation (that is how you learn, after all) but in that case it's better if you start anew, organize things the way you want them, *BACKUP* your settings, and THEN experiment away!

If your experimentation goes wrong, you're just one Restore away from having things working normally again.

Winstep Xtreme has literally hundreds of different settings and features. Without access to your system, I have no idea what you have already changed.

Open WorkShelf Preferences, go to the Modules tab, and have a look at what settings are enabled there for each module (stuff like transparency, scaling, hide desktop modules at start-up, etc...). Now that the desktop modules are no longer set to be captured by the NextSTART taskbar, you might get them working again by looking at their settings, or at least figure out why they aren't.



Registering the software only allows you to go past the 30 day trial, it does not change the way it works. Perhaps it was a one time glitch? Let me know if it happens again next time you let your computer sleep.

Yes, I have been playing around with it. I have a good idea as to what those tickmarks do that you told me to untick. Most everything is self-explanatory. Yes I've backed up my settings. Yes, I've restored to "factory defaults". But no, it still doesn't work. Modules (except for the clock) sometimes display as icons and sometimes display as nothing, but never display as the actual module.

I've clicked on the Help button but it takes me to a FAQ web page that's almost impossible to read because it's dark gray text on a black background, so I try not to go there if I don't have to. But I have read the FAQ and I've followed the instructions about displaying a module:



The problem is, it doesn't work. The "Show this module on the desktop" is ticked and the size is set to large. But instead of a 2-inch by 1-inch box, all I get is a tiny icon, and not even all the time. Not even the "Show/Hide Desktop Modules" works on it (although the clock obediently shows and hides when this button is clicked).

There is a WHOLE bunch of activity in here, so what I'm about to say might have already been covered and I missed it (not that it was TL;DR, but it was TL;DR--sorry, sometimes my ADHD kicks in). But, with respect to the systray disappearing from the NextSTART taskbar:

If Windoze Explorer crashes and has to be restarted, the systray items also disappear from the NextSTART taskbar. I haven't had Windoze Explorer crash in quite a while, so it hasn't happened to me recently, but the easiest way I found to get them back was to exit NextSTART and restart it.

Here's an update on the modules.

I didn't like the aero theme very much so I chose Atmospherica since it has a smaller Workshelf and is opaque. After switching themes, the taskbar opened and both the weather module and the CPU monitor showed up in all their glory.

But then the taskbar autohid and after I brought it back, neither the weather module nor the CPU monitor was there. They just disappeared and they haven't come back. I even tried restarting Xtreme but no luck.

Another update:

I closed Google Chrome to see if it was the problem. I then closed and restarted Xtreme. Then I went through the motions of getting the weather module on the desktop. It worked. When I brought up the task bar, the module went to it and fully displayed itself like it was supposed to. But when the taskbar autohid, the module went away and didn't return to the desktop. The only way to get it to display on the desktop again was to click on Main in the Workshelf and right click on the weather module icon to bring up the context menu. This brought up both the menu and the weather module.

If I don't capture the module to the taskbar, it appears to stay happily on the desktop, and it also appears to stay happily on top of other windows if I tell it to.

That remark made me happy.



Ah, but are you aware that NextSTART and WorkShelf are *independent* applications? You need to backup, restore and set them to factory defaults *individually*. If you reset NextSTART settings only, this is not going to have any effect on the WorkShelf modules.

Just a heads up.



Again an obvious remark from me, but what is obvious to me might not be obvious to everyone else. You are aware that those settings in the Modules tab of WorkShelf Preferences only apply to the *currently selected module*, right? For instance, if you want to show the Recycler module on the desktop, you must first select that module in the pull down menu.



Eh?! Are you telling me that the modules work as intended if you don't capture them into the taskbar, but that otherwise they disappear when the taskbar auto-hides?

I'm the one getting confused now lol

Jorik, exactly what do you think the 'Capture module to the taskbar' setting does?

Something critical I had forgotten about your case: you are NOT running Explorer as the Shell.

Winstep applications are Shell extenders, not Shell replacements. Some features depend on Explorer (or at least on a shell that perfectly emulates it) to function (the systray, for instance), others were never tested with a Shell other than Explorer.

I'm aware. When I backed up the settings, I backed up both. I've restarted both NextSTART and Workshelf when necessary.



I'm aware of that, too. The Workshelf preferences dialog box is very well designed and easy to use, and it was obvious that each module had it's own settings area.



That is correct.



My guess is that it will move it from the desktop to the taskbar next time it's shown, similar to the "Attach to NextSTART" item in the module context menu. But I don't know if it's supposed to stay there or if it's supposed to go back to the desktop when the taskbar autohides. It turns out that both capturing and attaching work the same way for me: show the module on the taskbar, but make it disappear when the taskbar autohides and never make it come back. I've tried both.

My preference would be to show it on the taskbar so that it doesn't take up space when the taskbar is hidden. But I have 4 monitors so I just stick it on one and work around it. And there's that very useful "Show/hide desktop modules button to get it out of the way if it needs to be moved.



Actually, I'm running it again. After finding out about Xtreme, I found that Windows Explorer could run in the background and could be called on when needed (Xtreme crashing, load Windows Update, etc.). So I left it running in the background even though I never use it, and it's been running the whole time I've been posting these issues. The reason I removed it was because the start menu kept going gonzo and I had to keep terminating and restarting it, and when you referred me to NextSTART, I had no reason to terminate it any more.

Just to make sure, I turned off the "span multiple monitors" setting, but it still disappears when the task bar autohides.